Opinion + Student housing | The Guardianhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/commentisfree+education/studenthousing
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Our rent strike at UCL has caught fire in the capital – and here’s why | Angus O’Brienhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/09/rent-strike-students-ucl-london-threat-to-education-access
<p>The threat to education access posed by university rent-setting policies isn’t just a local issue. No wonder students everywhere are clamouring to join us</p><p>More than 1,000 students from across London <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/25/london-students-refuse-to-pay-rent-and-demand-40-cut" title="">are taking part in a rent strike</a>. In only three months the first strike, of 150 students at University College London, has rapidly increased to incorporate hundreds more students and three other institutions: Goldsmiths, University of London, the University of Roehampton and the Courtauld Institute of Art. For those looking in from the outside, the direct causal link between these first 150 students and the proliferation of protest across the capital may seem unclear. But the success of the strike at UCL, coupled with the nationwide threat to access to education posed by university rent-setting policies, make it perfectly understandable – and it’s no wonder students everywhere are clamouring to join.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/may/06/university-students-across-london-take-part-in-rent-strike">University students across London take part in rent strike</a> </p><p>Threats and intimidation have failed against a resolute student body, while managers' arguments have fallen flat</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/09/rent-strike-students-ucl-london-threat-to-education-access">Continue reading...</a>Student housingStudentsRenting propertyEducationEducation policyUCL (University College London)PropertyGoldsmiths, University of LondonLondonRoehampton UniversityThe Courtauld Institute of ArtMon, 09 May 2016 14:03:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/09/rent-strike-students-ucl-london-threat-to-education-accessPhotograph: Angus O'BrienPhotograph: Angus O'BrienAngus O'Brien2016-05-09T14:03:00ZThe UCL rent strikes are part of a far bigger battle against inequality | Michael Chessumhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/rent-strikes-ucl-students-deepen-inequality
This government wants to normalise a more unequal society. That’s why this campaign, and others like it, are so vital<p>“Some people simply cannot afford to live in London, and that is a fact of life.” <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/ucl-rent-strike-university-official-tells-students-it-is-a-fact-of-life-some-people-cant-afford-to-a6909736.html" title="">These are words</a> that will haunt the public affairs department of University College London for years. They were uttered by Andrew Grainger, UCL’s director of estates, in a meeting with representatives of a rent strike that is currently taking place in response to the spiralling cost of student accommodation. Rent strikes are becoming a theme of campus life at UCL, with last year’s campaign ending up with a<a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/ucl-students-awarded-nearly-300000-in-rent-row-over-poor-living-conditions-a3128166.html" title=""> substantial payout</a> for students following a dispute over poor living conditions.</p><p>Grainger’s remarks in the small meeting are by all accounts a stunning admission, but they reflect a reality that many of his students would recognise. Since 2009-10, the average rent at a UCL hall of residence has risen by 56%. At its largest residence, Ramsay Hall, <a href="http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/accommodation/residences/halls/ramsay-hall" title="">a catered room will now cost you £206.29 per week</a>, leaving a student with access to the minimum student loan a weekly income of minus £3.08 after paying rent. After almost an hour of being confronted with the realities (one student spoke of how she had to commute to Essex to work every weekend in order to pay her rent), Grainger told the blunt truth: with the funding system as it is, maybe you shouldn’t study here.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/25/london-students-refuse-to-pay-rent-and-demand-40-cut">London students refuse to pay rent and demand 40% cut</a> </p><p>The leaders of most universities are now overwhelmingly driven by a need to compete</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/rent-strikes-ucl-students-deepen-inequality">Continue reading...</a>Student housingEducationUniversity administrationHigher educationStudent financeStudentsMoneyLondonUK newsMon, 07 Mar 2016 15:05:07 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/07/rent-strikes-ucl-students-deepen-inequalityPhotograph: Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Niklas Halle'N/AFP/Getty ImagesMichael Chessum2016-03-07T15:05:07ZStudent rents are out of control – so at UCL we’re refusing to pay them| Angus O’Brienhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/27/ucl-protest-student-accommodation-london-rent-increases
UCL students are protesting over sky-high rents that ape the private sector and show a flagrant disregard for our welfare. We’re fighting for rights for London tenants<p>Right now, more than 150 students at University College London (UCL) aren’t paying their rent. Collectively they are withholding more than £250,000 until their <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/25/london-students-refuse-to-pay-rent-and-demand-40-cut" title="">demands for affordable housing are met</a>. This is a drastic course of action, though one that reflects the severity of the housing crisis in London – a crisis that not even student halls are immune to.</p><p>Housing is now the <a href="https://www.ipsos-mori.com/researchpublications/researcharchive/3634/Londoners-say-housing-is-now-the-number-one-issue-facing-the-capital.aspx" title="">primary issue facing Londoners</a>; the average tenant in the capital pays out <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/jul/16/tenants-in-england-spend-half-their-pay-on-rent" title="">72% of their total earnings on rent alone</a> while, on a national level, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/jan/09/housing-crisis-tenants-shelter-private-rent" title="">53% of tenants are struggling to pay their rent</a>. It is increasingly clear that rent is becoming everyone’s problem.</p><p> <span>Related: </span><a href="http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/25/london-students-refuse-to-pay-rent-and-demand-40-cut">London students refuse to pay rent and demand 40% cut</a> </p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/27/ucl-protest-student-accommodation-london-rent-increases">Continue reading...</a>Student housingStudentsUCL (University College London)Student financeMoneyStudent politicsLondonUK newsProtestHigher educationEducationWed, 27 Jan 2016 15:03:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/jan/27/ucl-protest-student-accommodation-london-rent-increasesPhotograph: UCL Cut the RentPhotograph: UCL Cut the RentAngus O'Brien2016-01-27T15:03:00ZSheffield University rated best place to be a student? You'd better believe it | Laura Kayhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/15/sheffield-university-number-one-student-experience-times-higher-education-survey
The Times Higher Education survey results are no surprise: Sheffield is inclusive, welcoming and joyfully cheap<p>The response I receive from many uninformed people when I reveal that I went to university in Sheffield ranges from surprise and polite mumbling about steel to a not remotely concealed it's-grim-up-north face, along with a confused "why?"</p><p>Well, those who have been a student in Sheffield, or indeed have visited the city for a significant amount of time, will know the answer. Rated number one in this year's <a href="http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/times-higher-education-student-experience-survey-2014/2013333.article" title="">Times Higher Education Student Experience survey</a>, the University of Sheffield is quite rightly being recognised for being a fantastic place to study in a poll that isn't exclusively focused on academia.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/15/sheffield-university-number-one-student-experience-times-higher-education-survey">Continue reading...</a>University of SheffieldHigher educationEducationStudent financeStudentsMoneyStudent housingThu, 15 May 2014 15:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/15/sheffield-university-number-one-student-experience-times-higher-education-surveyPhotograph: Alamy'Sheffield is a strikingly friendly city: you don't feel like a little fish in an inconceivably big pond, like so many of my friends who went to university in London did.' Photograph: AlamyPhotograph: Alamy'Sheffield is a strikingly friendly city: you don't feel like a little fish in an inconceivably big pond, like so many of my friends who went to university in London did.' Photograph: AlamyLaura Kay2014-05-15T15:30:00ZThe sorry state of student housing | Penny Andersonhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/14/student-housing-today-shocking
Students are easy prey for unscrupulous landlords, who are cashing in by charging huge rents for shabby properties<p>Recently I stayed, temporarily, in student accommodation again. Nostalgically I pictured the residential halls of my youth, remembering torrential water fights, superhuman livers and stark, utilitarian fittings. I thought to myself: they must be different now – surely these days, student housing no longer resembles an open prison.</p><p>Sadly, this particular hall of residence (owned by a university) was exactly as I recalled: utilitarian to the point of bleakness, and kitted out in a Spartan manner. Yes, I appreciated the innovation of an en suite shower, but I could hardly move my arms, and there was nowhere to hang a towel. The kitchen/diner/lounge was intended for six residents, but seated only four, assuming perhaps that students exist in shifts.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/14/student-housing-today-shocking">Continue reading...</a>Student housingHigher educationStudentsEducationPropertyMoneyUK newsTue, 14 Aug 2012 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/14/student-housing-today-shockingPhotograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian'Utilitarian to the point of bleakness.' Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the GuardianPhotograph: Graeme Robertson/Guardian'Utilitarian to the point of bleakness.' Photograph: Graeme Robertson for the GuardianPenny Anderson2012-08-14T09:00:00ZRadical squatters: Taking back what's theirs | Laurie Pennyhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/11/radical-squat-gaddafi-mansion
Occupiers of the Gaddafi mansion in London are striking a blow against international elites<p>What does a dictator's house look like? In a leafy Hampstead cul-de-sac, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/feb/27/gaddafi-son-saif-al-islam-profile" title="Guardian: Saif al-Islam Gaddafi: The new face of Libyan defiance">Saif al-Islam Gaddafi</a> owns a £10m mansion. The London base of the Libyan dictator's son is held by a company based in the British Virgin Islands for tax reasons, and boasts a swimming pool, a private cinema – and, now, a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/mar/09/libya-muammar-gaddafi" title="Guardian: Squatters take over Saif Gaddafi's London home">dozen activists squatting in the living room</a>.</p><p>Yesterday, with more reports coming in of government thugs <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-12693856" title="BBC: Libya: Gaddafi forces pound western city of Zawiya">spilling rebel blood on the streets of Zawiya</a>, a group of young people entered the empty mansion. They secured the entrances, taped up a notice stating their right to hold the property under British common law, and moved in. They flung banners from the windows reading "solidarity" in English and Arabic.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/11/radical-squat-gaddafi-mansion">Continue reading...</a>LibyaMiddle East and North AfricaWorld newsUnemploymentMuammar GaddafiPovertySocial exclusionUK newsStudent housingAfricaSquattingFri, 11 Mar 2011 08:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/mar/11/radical-squat-gaddafi-mansionLaurie Penny2011-03-11T08:30:01ZWhy we should care about the Quill | Owen Hatherleyhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/22/quill-private-student-housing
Private student housing is a reminder of how students are at the vanguard of exploitation, and is part of the reason for their rage<p>Around the same time that student occupations convulsed universities across the country, a tall building in the centre of London was given planning permission. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/davehillblog/2010/dec/02/london-architecture" title="Guardian: The Southwark Quill ">The Quill</a> will be close to the Shard and is a fairly typical new London tower, a lumpen glass extrusion full of clumsy symbolism – the titular flurry of steel spikes is apparently "inspired by the literary heritage of Southwark" – but the function was equally symptomatic. The Quill is intended to be neither a corporate headquarters nor "luxury flats", but a halls of residence, for students of King's College.</p><p>The reason why we should care about the Quill is because it reveals part of the background to the student rage that has been in the news the past few weeks. It's an extremely prominent example of something which, until now, has been hiding in plain sight; that, for the first time, city skylines are heavily defined by student housing, and that it is architecturally of the very lowest quality. In some cities, the tallest buildings of all are halls of residence, and given that students are a somewhat more reliable market than those elusive young professionals, and also that cash-strapped universities will be flogging every scrap of real estate they own to stay in the black, there's going to be a lot more of them in the next few years.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/22/quill-private-student-housing">Continue reading...</a>Student housingHigher educationStudentsEducationConstruction industryUK newsWed, 22 Dec 2010 15:00:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/dec/22/quill-private-student-housingOwen Hatherley2010-12-22T15:00:01Z